I never used that Osage board by the way. It's leaning against my shed. If you pass through NOVA you can have it.

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I was born my papa's son
When I hit the ground I was on the run
I had one glad hand and the other behind
You can have yours, just give me mine
When the hound dog barkin' in the black of the night
Stick my hand in my pocket, everything's all right

I have a couple of small osage staves drying out right now that I'm going to use to make a couple of youth bows, and a 4' stave I'm going to see if I can sinew-back and get a decent draw length out of for a horsebow, or for use in dense woods...places where a longbow just doesn't work.

Edit: I know osage is insane for a youth bow, but I found the staves cheap, and they're too small to do anything else with...so the stepson and the nephew will just have (hopefully) works of art to learn with. Because...why not?

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"...for those who man the battle line, the bugle whispers low, and freedom has a taste and price the protected never know..."

I'm finally going to take the plunge on this. I want to kill a big game animal with a bow and arrow I made myself, so last year I cut a bunch of yew trees that I finally got around to splitting. I figure they still have a year or more to dry so in the mean time I picked up an Osage stave from a local guy and he threw in a small stave so I can build my son one to shoot with me. Going to start on the little guys first so any mistakes are caught in a free stave and one that is only going to pull like 10lbs. This piece is pretty cool as it will hopefully center shoot with the way it snakes right at the handle. Hoping to get it chased down to a single ring in the next week.

So I got the back chased down to a single ring and its floor tillering. Need to build a tillering stick so I can see how even the limbs are. Mamma and Oma's poultry better watch out when little man gets a hold of this thing.

So I got the back chased down to a single ring and its floor tillering. Need to build a tillering stick so I can see how even the limbs are. Mamma and Oma's poultry better watch out when little man gets a hold of this thing.

That's gonna be absolutely beautiful! Keep us posted!

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"...for those who man the battle line, the bugle whispers low, and freedom has a taste and price the protected never know..."

Thank you! This has been something I've wanted to do since I was about eight and it took having a 51/2 year old to get it done. I'll definitely be making the adult one next. Going to try to twist up a Flemish string for this one instead of the para cord. Also probably reflex the tips to speed it up a bit, but it shot some old aluminum arrows 100 plus feet. Not sure how much more range I want to give the boy

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It shot the aluminum ones pretty good but had a hard time stabilizing out past fifty feet or so. I dug up an old carbon one that I'll test tonight. I need to build some arrows for it to match the low draw weight. I got a handful of shafts just need to fletch them. I'll try and get one as soon as I reflex the limbs.

I found a real straight grained larch snag the other day at work that I thought would make good arrows. It's running around 25-30 rings to the inch. It was a ways from the pickup so I cut a 40" section out of it and split it into about twenty fence post sized pieces that got packed out.

I split one of the posts into smaller chunks then planned it down to a flat 3/8th dowel. That got turned into an octagon, then 16 sided, then sanded and ended up with right at 11/32 sized arrow.

Got my string making stuff in the mail so a Flemish string is on the todo list. I have to say this could get addicting!

Took a break from working on my house and decided to start my bow. Had a couple snafus but I think it will end up shooting. Found that knot after I chased it down to a ring. It's not in the best spot, but not much I could do with it.

__________________
One of the fundamental truths of the universe is that there isn't anything that cannot be improved with the addition of pirates, ninjas, midgets or monkeys.

For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Romans 13:4

Nicely done wowzer...this was my last year shooting recurve--the ole shoulder says enough is enough. I've shot animals with rifles, shotguns, compound bows and crossbows--but there is no thrill like drawing a recurve on an animal--it's up close and personal.